


Temporary Love

by Nelira



Category: Star vs. The Forces Of Evil
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, At first it sticks mostly to the canon storyline, Basically a rewrite of the events from Sad Teen Hotline onwards, Canon Rewrite, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Rewrite: s04e17 Sad Teen Hotline, Eventual Fluff, F/F, F/M, Fluff, I just want all of them to be happy, Love Confessions, M/M, Multi, OT3, Polyamory, Possibly OOC, Though it might deviate more from canon later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-03-06 15:07:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18853528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nelira/pseuds/Nelira
Summary: Tom wants to break up with Star because he has realized that he has feelings for Marco and Star and he can't stand to be in their way when he knows they both like each other. What he doesn't know is that they also have feelings towards him.





	1. Chapter 1

 Tom knew this was the right thing to do, Star and Marco were clearly in love and it was unfair to make either of them unhappy. He knew how amazing Star was, he actually wanted to keep being her boyfriend so much... but of course, there was Marco, his best friend, strong and brave, and selfless, and patient... Recently, just thinking about him did weird things to his stomach, and inside, he knew that his feelings had long surpassed friendship a long time ago. The last thing he wanted was to make either of them sad. He had to do this. So when Star asked about his trip, he was resolved to explain the conclusion he had come to during their time apart.

 "Oh, oh, it was great!" he looked at his new necklace, looking for the confidence to be a new changed Tom who could let his best friends be happy.

 "It's kind of changed my perspective on life." He had to admit that saying this was hard...

 "Uhm, speaking of which, can I talk to you about something?"  

 He knew his face was too transparent of his obvious worry but Star seemed so happy and he knew this was going to upset her.  

 "Sure, what's up?" followed up Star with evident interest, completely oblivious to Tom's thoughts.  

 "Well, I've been doing some soul searching lately, and, I keep coming back to this feeling." He paused to find the right words. "I, I feel like," he tried to get out but stumbled over which words to say, "like we should," he tried once again, bringing a hand to his neck, looking for comfort.

 "I think we should break up," he blurted out quickly, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible to spare himself any more suffering than necessary.

 Of course, a helicopter had to fly over their heads exactly at that moment, completely drowning his words out.  

 "What's that?" responded Star immediately, proving that she hadn't been able to understand him over the helicopter's noise.  

 Tom's disbelief and annoyance showed on his face, did he seriously have to say that again?  

 "I think we should see other people."  

 "What was that?" Star shouted louder this time.  

 Again? Ughhh, whatever, guess he'd just have to make himself heard over the helicopter.  

 "I SAID I THINK WE SHOULD BREAK UP!" Tom cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed at the top of his lungs this time; nevertheless, Star still looked clueless.

 "Ugh." This time, Star, frustrated, stood up and shouted, "Winter Storm hyperblow!" trapping the helicopter in ice, sighing with relief, and looking back at Tom with a satisfied smile.  

 "Your Highness has the floor." She gestured happily.  

 "Star," Tom paused to look away and turned to her once more to declare, "I think we should break up"  

 "Wait. Why?" Star exclaimed immediately. "Okay, I know I'm not the best girlfriend, but I'm definitely not the worst!"  

 Tom turned away from Star with a resigned frown while Star frantically wondered what she'd done wrong.  

 "I made you all this food, and I even got you a present!" She reached for something from under her blond hair. "It's a super rare black and white cat named Mr. Panda Pants!" Star held out a white cat with black ears, paws, and tail, wearing a pink collar with a tiny skull on a bow.  

 Tom took the cat in his arms, which started purring immediately, nestled in his elbow.

 "Star, I appreciate the effort but, you know, at the end of the day," Tom looked away from Star, unable to look her in the eyes, "it's not about what you do or what you don't do. It's about where you're headed." Tom got up, looking at her sideways while stroking Mr. Panda Pants head, who kept purring contently, calming Tom’s fear slightly.

 "And you and me," he looked towards the Sun, letting go of the cat, "we're headed to different places," he finished by hiding his hands in his pockets.

 Star was completely out of words, her mind couldn’t seem to catch up with the pain her heart was feeling. So Tom no longer felt the same way? Ugh, but she still liked him, a lot, she didn’t understand the whole thing about how it wasn’t clear that they were going anywhere together? Their lives were a mess! Of course their future was unclear! And while it was true that she still had feelings for Marco and she found it impossible to envision a future without Marco in it, the same could be said about Tom! Of course she loved him, even after all of their time together, she still got a funny feeling in her stomach whenever she called him and they just talked through the mirror for hours, all of the times when Tom was so absurdly adorable or when he just made her feel special and happy just because she was with him, the infinite trust they had gained in each other over time, dancing for fun; which had become their thing after all of the Silver Bell Balls, sneaking around their castles getting into trouble with their parents; no matter how old they were already...

 She couldn’t help but feel that it was her fault for choosing to stay with Marco instead of going on the trip together with Tom, and yes, she hadn’t wanted to be away from Marco for so long while trying to relax after all they’d been through, but mostly, she had needed that nice ordinary and fascinating Earth lifestyle with the people that had become her new family.

 In truth, it hadn’t really been about choosing Marco over Tom. Nevertheless, instead of worrying about Marco, she had ended up staying up late to text Tom at all times during his trip and wondering aloud constantly about what Tom was doing; to the point where Marco asked her if it really was for the best that she had stayed with him during the Summer. At least, not doing anything during the Summer had made her feel the most relaxed she’d been in ages. She had truly needed that downtime.

 Still, her mind quickly came back to the profound sadness of what this truly meant, what she was losing; Tom was just too important in her life and at some point, she had stopped making him feel special and wanted and he no longer loved her. She couldn’t bear to lose what they had.

 Meanwhile, Tom kept looking at the Sun to avoid turning to look at his friend, he couldn't bear to look at all of the pain he'd caused to the person he loved.

 Star looked at him through the stream of tears falling down her face.

 "Well, at least we'll always be friends, right?" Star said, wiping her tears away.

 "No... I can't do that, you're a really great person! That's," Tom turned slightly to look at Star fondly with sad resignation on his expression, before turning back to look at the floor, "exactly why I think being friends would be too painful for me."

 Tom was already walking away when he added, "So, maybe I'll see you in another life," he turned around to finally face her one last time, "where we're both cute panda cats."

 "Yeah..." Star said softly, looking down between tears threatening to spill from her eyes and hugging herself to try to hide her hurt from Tom.

 Tom closed his eyes, took his hands out of his pockets, and summoned a fire column to go back home, away from Star, forever.

 Star sniffled, realizing all of the amazing times with Tom were over, they'd been best friends for so long... Of course, things got weird for a while when they broke up and Tom was being obsessive, but now he was one of the few people she could genuinely trust all the time; she enjoyed being with him so much and he had improved so incredibly. To tell the truth, he was kind, and persevering, and strong, and he had so much love for his friends, and he used to love her too; texting all the time about their favorite things, that odd understanding that she barely got with anyone else, the jokes, all of the heart-warming—even cheesy—times they had together… Her track of thought was interrupted by the, still there, fire crackling of the column. 

 She opened her eyes in shock and pursed her eyebrows in disbelief, before looking back at Tom out of the corner of her eyes with intrigue, seeing that effectively, he was still there.

 "Uh, Tom," she frowned, "what are you doing?" She turned her head to him. "Just go already!"

  Tom opened a window on the fire column, with a completely confused look on his face.

 "I'm trying," he looked at the fire in doubt, "just having a little issue with the fire column," he continued, "just, uh... don't look for a sec?" He waved at her to turn around.

 "Really?!" exclaimed Star with indignation.

 "Just do it!" urged her Tom.

 "Ughhh!" Star crossed her arms over her knees once again, muttering, with tears of frustration threatening to pour down her face once more.

 After a few seconds, she complained, "You're still there, aren't you?!"

 Tom chuckled, just as uncomfortable with the situation  

 "Just, um, yeah, um, one more sec. Almost there, just give it another,... uh." He stretched his arms, trying to somehow power the column.  

 Eventually, Star got up groaning in frustration and walked to him decidedly with her hands curled into fists.  

 "Alright, what is this?" she gestured towards the base of the fire column. "What am I looking at here?"  

 Tom, completely out of ideas, dissolved the fire column in one frustrated motion of his arms and stood on the air for a moment, looking down with confusion.  

 "Aaagh! Why isn't it working?!" Then, with no previous warning, he rushed down the chimney.  

 "Hey!" Star ran after him, looking down the chimney in exasperation.  

 What was wrong with Tom? she wondered while she climbed down the chimney. Was this affecting him this much? He was the one who wanted to break up! Why was this happening then? And he could never see her again? That didn't sound like he was completely unaffected by his choice, it sounded more like he was running away... Anyway, she knew she had to respect his choice, but it still felt odd.  

 "Thomas Draconius Lucitor! Don't you?" she started scolding him, but once she got down, she had to jump out of the chimney with a startled yell because Tom was filling it up with the Diaz's furniture.  

 "What are you doing?" wondered Star once she'd rolled away from the chimney.  

 "I have no idea! Maybe the portal fire needs more fuel or something," assumed Tom while throwing more things towards the chimney side of the room.  

 "Is that really how it works?" doubted Star.  

 "Probably not," admitted the boy, "but I'm willing to give it a shot."  

 Tom set the armchair he had picked up on fire. "Tom! No fire in the house!" Star quickly put the fire out with a water spell.

 "I think I figured out what's going on," Star declared in a mature tone. "You're super emotional right now and it's probably interfering with your powers."  

 The discovery caused Tom to drop the armchair back on the floor, groaning in frustration, before closing his eyes in an attempt to calm himself and give his mind time to process everything.

 "Ugh! Ok, well, fine!" he looked at Star a bit apologetically and asked, "Do you think maybe you could? You know? Uh… " He made kind of a bird gesture with his hands that was meant to be a butterfly.  

 "Oh! Yeah, yeah!" Star caught onto it with surprise and, a bit embarrassed, she assured him, "of course."  

 "One portal coming right up!" Star transformed and moved her six hands outwards in a circle, however, her magic dissipated without creating a portal. "Huh? What?" She tried again with the same result, and again, and again, and again,... increasingly desperate and shouting in frustration.  

 "Seriously?!" complained Tom, incredulous that his friend was affected as well, she was like, the happiest mewman ever!  

 Star turned to face him, to attempt to justify herself. "Well, I'm emotional now too, okay?!"

 Just then, the doorbell rang. Star returned to her standard mewman form; and dejected, Tom and she headed towards the door.

 "Coming!" she announced, trying to sound cheerful.

 When they opened the door, the police were right there.

 "Hey kids," the older policeman looked at his notes. "I'm just here about the, uh, police helicopter? Yeah, it seems to be frozen in place over this here." The police officer looked at his notes again, "house."

 Star quickly remembered the annoying noises it was making and tried to look like she had innocently forgotten about that ever happening in the first place.

 "Oh, right, that." Star looked to the sky, checking the helicopter was, effectively, still in place. "Sorry, my bad," she apologized. However, she added, "but would you mind coming back a little later? I'm kind of in the middle of something," she explained.

 “Thank you for your cooperation!” The cop tilted his cap, trying to remain unfazed.

 “Barb!” he called loudly, and a young woman with a ladder came to the door.

 “Yeah, Boss! I'm just gonna skedaddle up to the roof and spend probably hours figuring out what's going on up there,” the woman explained, remaining optimistic.

 This caused Tom to look at the people at the door with a worried expression over the trouble he seemed to be causing.

 Star, on the other hand, just averted her eyes and said, “Okay, well, like I said, I'm right in the middle of something, so do whatever you gotta do!”

 “Star! What is going on here?” sounded Mr. Diaz’s voice from the end of the room.

 Star crossed her arms and looked down in embarrassment, expecting to be scolded by Mr. and Mrs. Diaz.

 Tom looked at them apologetically, raising his shoulders and tensing his arms, as if to make himself look smaller.

 “Uh, we're here about the police helicopter,” started explaining the police officer, increasing the teens’ discomfort, but was immediately interrupted by Rafael.

 “No, not you,” he brushed him away with a gesture, “Star! Tom!” He pointed at them with concern. “Why do you look so sad?”

 “Uhm…” Tom tried to explain the situation but felt unable and just looked away.

 “Tom and I broke up,” Star finished for him through tears in her eyes.

 Rafael’s response was immediate. “What?!” he exclaimed, causing everybody to gasp. “Pero por qué?” He kneeled in front of the two friends, startling them.

 “Uh, thank you, but what we really need now is just—” tried to convey Star, but was cut off by her host parent raising his teary face from his hands with decision.

 “I know exactly what you need!” He ran to the Sad Teen Hotline poster and dialed the number.

 “This is a nightmare,” Star declared.

 Tom had to agree, it was very awkward to have an adult call a hotline to counsel them about a break up; when they were still talking each other through it, especially when said adult was telling their whole story to the person on the other side of the phone, and, as if that alone wasn’t enough, every adult in the vicinity decided to chip in with their completely unrelated life anecdotes about breakups and how much they had been the wrong thing to do and had been useless or had destroyed their lives. Was that really necessary? It certainly didn’t make Tom feel any better about not really knowing how his own feelings towards Star played into his decision.

 “Argh! I’m outta here.” Tom burst into flames in frustration and stomped out of the living room.

 “Hey! Wait a minute!” Star scolded him. She didn’t want to be left alone with a group of adults who were acting crazy!

 She followed Tom and closed the door behind her, collapsing on it with a groan.

 “This could not have gone worse.” She covered her eyes with her hands to calm her thoughts but soon heard the sound of fire crackling and her friend’s voice.

 “Keep it together Tom, you can do this.” Her friend was talking deep breaths and trying to motivate himself into making the fire column work.

 “Calming breaths,” he said, exhaling and forming another fire column, with no success.

 He repeated the process, with increasingly less breathing and more screaming: “Calming breaths”, while creating sudden bursts of fire.

 “CALMING BREATHS! I SAID CALMING BREATHS!!!” he ended up screaming, flailing his arms to get the column to work.

  “Tom, that’s not gonna work,” Star deadpanned, resolving to get up to reason with him.

 “Ugh! Look, I know you don't like me anymore, but I still—”

 “I do still like you!” he cut her off.

 “Then why are you breaking up with me?” She stared him down seriously. “Truly, why do you think we don’t have a future if you still like me?”

 She knew she was being immature but she couldn’t stand being left in the dark.

  “I can understand it if you want to break up because you no longer feel the same way, but if you still like me… what did I truly do wrong? Or what got in the way? What went wrong?...” her voice trailed off, sounding weaker with every word.

 Tom took a deep breath and answered calmly, “Star, I’m not blind, I know perfectly well why you chose to stay with Marco instead of going on the trip with me. You chose to do that because you like him more than me, and I can’t blame you! He’s just that amazing and great, and cute… and he is truly your best friend, not me… You two spend so much time together and have been through so much…” Tom sighed with resignation.

 “Wait. Tom, are you doing this because of Marco?” Star asked softly.

 “No! I could never! it’s obvious how much you love Marco, and I get it!” he declared without giving Star time to answer, and continued, “I mean, he’s perfect and adorable and such a patient and caring person…”

 Star’s eyes widened as she realized the implications of what Tom was saying, but she remained quiet for now.

 “And besides, you’re his best friend! I’d love for him to consider me his best friend, but he already has you.” Tom smiled sadly but reassuringly.

 “Yeah, that's what I meant! You’re right, it’s true that I like him, but just because I like him it doesn't mean that I have to date him.” She paused to look him in the eyes.

  “If breaking up is really going to make you happier because you don't feel the same way,” she wiped away her tears once more, “then I completely understand your decision and accept it. If that’s the case, I'm sorry I made you feel like second best to Marco; because you're not, I care about you immensely and you make me feel special, cared for, understood, supported, and... I love you, and me liking Marco doesn't change that at all!” Star stopped for a second to recollect her thoughts.

 “I don't really understand why I feel this way towards any of you, but that's how it is…” her voice trailed off sadly before she recovered and continued firmly, “but, if you're doing this to make Marco and I happy while disregarding your own feelings, then, don't get me wrong, but in the end, brushing aside those feelings is just going to hurt you… all of us actually,” —she corrected— “because we care about you, much more than you think,” Star explained, looking at Tom directly.

 “But I know you would be happier dating him!” Tom complained.

 “No! Because I still like you!” Star tried to make him see.

 “Well, but Marco also likes you! You both deserve to be happy and I'm getting in the way!”

 Star was starting to feel like she was talking to a wall… She sighed and told him: “Tom, and what about you? Wouldn't you be happier dating Marco? He's your best friend and you like him too! I know he also considers you his best friend, you're irreplaceable to him, I'm not the only person he cares about!”

 “Ok! Yes, it's true, I also feel amazing when I’m with him and, to be honest, yes! I like him! But there's no way he likes me,” Tom admitted.

 “Look, Tom, I know this sounds crazy, but even though Marco might not realize it, I’ve spent enough time with him to know how he looks at you and how he thinks about you and cares for you,” she paused to let that sink in and concluded, “Believe me, he is whipped.”

 Tom tried to reorder his thoughts in his head, what kind of unlikely situation was this?! And anyway! There was the factor that Marco and Star still liked each other, and no matter what, three was a crowd, especially when it came to couples!

 “Then what? One of us is going to be left out no matter what! Don’t you see that you and Marco would be happier together?” Tom pleaded for Star to let his decision be.

 “While we were together, I could tell how much not being able to act on your love towards Marco tore you apart. You want to be with him and I don’t want to stop you from that!” Tom exclaimed as if it was obvious.

 “If you already know how I feel when I try to ignore my feelings, you know it would also hurt just as much to ignore what I feel for you. It might not make sense, but I also like you!”

 At this point Star felt once again like her feelings were wrong, she was going to hurt them both if she didn’t give up… She wasn’t supposed to be like this… Whatever! She wanted to figure this out with both of them, not by herself, much less without having a say in it! She also felt like the conditions had changed from those on the break up on the rooftop; they were both determined to lead this somewhere, and they were not backing down, as far as they could see, their happiness was on the line. Tom wasn’t going to allow Star to bottle up and ignore what she felt for Marco, and Star wasn’t going to let Tom brush aside all of his feelings just so Marco could be with her. In any one of those two ways, all of them were going to have to ignore part of their feelings, something they couldn’t do, Star knew it was time to stop looking for ways to make Tom back down and start looking for a way to open a third option.

 “Tom, I love you and Marco and I care about both of you. This means I care about your happiness, so I can’t keep “bouncing” between both of you in confusion now that I’ve recognized those feelings as what they really are; just as much as I can’t make my feelings disappear. Please, be honest with me; why should you hide your feelings if they’re returned? I still like you as well, and do you really think Marco doesn’t care about you?

 “He cares about you way more than he admits, and it’s easy enough for me to tell by the way he looks at you,” she tried to convince him truthfully, looking at him with her red eyes that didn’t show weakness, but the strong will that hid behind her blue irises.

 Tom felt something akin to fear and hope bubbling inside of him as he heard Star talk about all of their feelings and listed off all of the reasons why he had felt that breaking up with Star was the right option, as well as the harms that came with them; the worst and best thing about it? Her words rang true to his ears. He had always known that there was a special bond between Star and Marco that had formed through all of their adventures together but he had never considered that he could possibly be a part of that. And the trip… Star’s explanation made complete sense; he knew she wasn’t lying. Her life had just become a huge mess back then, and he recognized that the Diaz household had also become her family and a source of comfort and normalcy she could seek when she felt overwhelmed. He could have taken her mind off things for a while, but let’s face it: one person, no matter how much you loved them, was not a whole support system; much less for Star Butterfly, the girl who can’t stand being disconnected from her friends and who thrives when being surrounded by others. In the end, the decision hadn’t really been about Marco and him, and he knew that, in the same way she’d have missed Marco if she’d gone on the trip; she hadn’t exactly been shy about missing him: texting him all the time, being a bit clingy, cuddly and attentive from the moment he returned… And to think that Marco could actually consider him more than a friend who had been a jerk in the past…

 Tom couldn’t stand it any longer and he finally let his held back tears pour down his face freely, making his makeup stain his whole face.

 “Ugh! Why does this have to be so hard? It’s just that this is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done, and I just, I don’t know what I’m doing.” He started crying uncontrollably.

 “Oh, Tom, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset.” Star placed a hand on his shoulder, facing him.

 “I'm not upset!” he complained sniffling and rubbed his eyes, which made his hands get filled with mascara. “Okay, maybe I'm a little upset,” he conceded.

 Star chuckled at the fact that even after this whole heartfelt conversation, Tom was still trying to keep appearances. “Here, let me help you with that.” Star licked her thumb to attempt to clean the boy’s face.

 “Oh! Star!” Tom tried to complain, unable to hide a small smile.

  “There we go,” declared Star satisfied.

 “Man, this really stinks.” Tom shrugged.

 “Yes. This whole day has just been yikes.”

 They both laughed together.

 Finally, Tom decided to give Star an explanation for his side of the story, he owed it to both of them.

 “I just… I felt like I should be dating a person I could be best friends with, and you already had one of those. I had no idea I was your best friend too, I couldn’t believe that was possible. Now, after hearing how you feel… I’m not sure what to do anymore.”

 “Yeah, I understand.” Star looked at him with hope now that they had reached this new mutual understanding, no more hidden feelings.

 He walked a bit towards her and she quickly embraced him in a warm hug.

 “I love you Star... and I love Marco…” he said between new soft sobs that were just floating to the surface with his bundle of feelings. “It’s just so scary to love you both at the same time… and so much.”

 Star just held her friend silently as they both let their pent up feelings wash over them.

 When he had calmed down slightly, Tom pulled away so he could look at Star’s eyes.

 She sighed and wondered, “What happens now?”

 “Well, do you think we could take some time to decide what to do…?” he expressed, looking sure of what he was saying for once. “Between the three of us?” he added.

 “Yes, we can’t exactly decide anything for the three without telling Marco, can we?” joked Star lightly.

 “Yeah, together, huh?” grinned Tom with hope.

 Star nodded and for a moment everything seemed on the way to perfection.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be a one-shot but I'm currently writing a second chapter, so I guess this will probably end up being a multi-chapter fic. For now, I'm trying to follow canon because I wanted to try writing what it would be like if Stomco were canon but I might diverge more from canon as the story progresses.  
> The title is from Ben Platt's song Temporary Love.  
> Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Star, Marco, and Tom have a much-needed talk.

 Their newfound peace didn’t last long. As soon as they let go of each other, they heard a very familiar voice from the door of the garden as it slid open.

 "Hey lovebirds! Am I back too early?” Marco fingergunned at them, leaning against the garden gate. “I was walking around the mall for, like, three hours, so I figured I'd—

 "What?!” Marco stopped mid-sentence when he saw the crane situated over his house because of a… frozen helicopter. Yes. “Uh. whaaaat?”

 He wondered why he was even surprised at this point. Just, what had happened in the last three hours? And how had he thought leaving these two alone was a good idea?!

 Tom looked at Star and then back at Marco, nervous over what to tell their friend.

 "Uh... Tom and I had to, sort some stuff out," Star proceeded to explain, noticing Tom’s unease and giving him a reassuring look.

 "What? And why?—This— what exactly happened... to cause _this_?" Marco pointed at the helicopter frozen in mid-air with concern.

 "How about we go inside? This might take a while to explain…” Tom looked at Marco apologetically.

 "Sure, but Star? You might want to fix that before we go inside...” Marco pointed towards the helicopter.

 "Oh that! Right!” Star used her magic to unfreeze it. To Marco’s relief, it continued flying as if nothing had happened to it.

 Marco eyed his friends as they all headed inside the house. This was starting to trouble him: chaos ensuing when Star and Tom were left alone wasn’t something all that surprising, nevertheless, this time they were both very tense, at least since he had come back. Besides, he had definitely noticed that Tom’s make up was completely smudged and Star’s eyes were slightly red too, with teartracks still bright on her cheeks. Those two things alone were enough to make him worry, a lot.

 His mind went immediately to all of the reasons why he cared so much about their wellbeing.

 Tom and he had grown so close since they had met. Sure, they had a rocky start at the beginning but now Marco would trust him with his life and it made him feel giddy with happiness when Tom showed just how much he also trusted him.

 He kept being amazed by how caring he was, he actually was a person who had literally no limits when it came to making the people he cared for happy, and learning how to control his emotions had even made him start putting a lot more of his positive feelings forward. Marco was insanely amazed by how much effort Tom constantly put into improving himself, that by itself already made Tom wonderful.

 He had a feeling with Tom that he saw right through his insecurities and his flaws without valuing him any less for that, he still considered the real version of Marco admirable and worth being friends with, Tom made him feel appreciated and in his eyes, he felt a bit more confidence.

 Not to mention how Marco could always hear the emotion in his voice whenever he talked about anything he liked, and his smile was stunningly beautiful.

 Then there was Star… He’d been in denial about his feelings for her for so long. Yet, the truth was that he had, almost from the very beginning, started to fall in love with the enthusiastic, fun-loving, adventurous, daring teen who not only had crashed into his life, but who had made sure to drag him along during everything, valuing his company no matter what. He noticed how her care for literally anybody in any world was infinite and she would give anything and everything to make other people happy and to make things fair for everyone. In the same way, injustices enraged her and her determination to fight for equality was astounding and it made Marco want to help her even more; he thought those aspects of her were simply perfect and he wanted to be there with her no matter what, both helping others, having fun together and just being there for her when she needed a break because of all the responsibilities she took on.

 At first, Marco had pushed away all of those feelings for both of his friends and denied them but eventually, as they grew more intense and got further and further away from simple friendship, he had ended up having to accept how much he liked them both, even if he wouldn’t admit it out loud because he wanted his two friends to remain happily in love.

 He wasn’t all that shocked that he liked two people at the same time, he knew many people were able to love more than once person at the same time with both feelings being equally true; after discovering that he liked Tom and finally coming to terms with his bisexuality, he was more open to understanding himself and soon found out that the romantic feelings he had for his two best friends were both true.

 He couldn’t stand seeing either of them sad and he couldn’t help but think that this might be serious and if he wanted to actually help, he first had to listen to the whole story.

 Once they were inside, Marco made some nachos for everyone and they sat on the couch, in front of the turned off TV. Marco looked at them expectant, waiting for Star and Tom to tell him what the matter was.

 "Well, I guess you deserve an explanation,” began Tom.

 Marco nodded slightly, encouraging him to continue.

 "I… almost broke up with Star,” admitted Tom, looking away with slight regret.

 "What?! Why?!” Marco paused thoughtfully with concern. “Is this because I kissed Star? I swear it was all my fault and I thought we were trapped and—”

 "Marco, relax dude, it’s not your fault, it’s not because of that, not really…” Tom sighed, “I didn't want to get between you and Star.”

 "But there’s nothing between me and Star.”

 "Marco, you’re both my best friends and I can tell that what you feel towards each other is more than friendship and you’d be happy together. That’s all I want, for you two to be happy.” Tom explained in a soft, calming voice.

 Marco’s brain right now had to decide between the extreme worry he was feeling because Tom’s explanation clearly wasn’t considerate about his own feelings, the panic that now that Tom had noticed his feelings for Star she totally deserved the truth, and the illogical elation that he felt when he heard that Tom cared so much about his happiness… Yes, his mind didn’t make sense, but when had feelings ever made sense?

 Marco took a deep breath.

 "You’re right,” Marco admitted, however, he quickly clarified, “about my feelings. Yes, I like Star.” He turned towards her without looking her in the eyes. “Star, you make the world around seem more exciting and brighter, you’re enthusiastic, strong and caring, you believe in goodness and I just want to be by your side because I’ve felt this way from the very beginning,  and the more I’ve gotten to know about you, the more intense my feelings have grown and the more I’ve wanted to know you and be with you.” He looked away with embarrassment. “But Tom, you’re also wrong about something, neither of us would be happier if you were hurting just so we could be together. You say you can see that I like Star but I have also seen how much Star likes you and how happy you make her feel, and I’ve also seen how much you like her and appreciate her and how happy you are when you’re with her. If there is someone who should be okay with just remaining friends, that’s me.”

 "Except what if your two friends are not that happy together because one knows that the other would be happier if they were able to act on their feelings for another person?” Tom remarked, talking in a very roundabout way that made him wonder if he was speaking about Star or about himself.

 Marco just looked at him puzzled, regardless of what Tom had said, the fact was that Star didn’t like him anymore, she was in love with Tom, not him. As for him, he also wanted both of them to keep being happy; he was the one who wasn’t going to get in the way.

 Now it was Star’s turn to take a deep breath, “Tom does have a point Marco,” she paused, “I like you too… And I really would like to be with you… But,” she shifted her gaze so she could look at Marco’s eyes for a second, “I also like Tom, and there is no way I wouldn’t be devastated if I couldn’t be with him. If I dated you, Marco, I would miss being with Tom and I would make myself miserable by ignoring my feelings towards him… The worst part would be knowing that he’s also ignoring his feelings for our sake.” Star confessed to Marco with an unsure, sad and truthful expression.

 An unexplainable, hopeful smile had started to form on Marco’s lips. First of all, Star liked him back! He wanted to cry with the relief and happiness that gave him, moreover, he wasn’t alone! Star was just like him! She liked two people at the same time! She understood. He had never felt more at peace with liking Tom and Star at the same time.

 Seeing that Marco wasn’t responding, Star added, “You understand why I can’t date you, right?”

 "Yes, of course I understand it! There is no way I could live happily if I was letting Tom brush aside his feelings so we could be together, that would hurt him, and Tom,” he looked at said boy while his heart sped up by the second, “over time I’ve started noticing more and more things about you and you’re just so amazing and wonderful... that there’s no way I could let you be hurt,” Marco paused to give himself confidence, “because I also like you and I care about your happiness. Besides, denying that would just hurt me as well,” concluded Marco, immediately starting to wish he hadn’t said anything at all.

 Star directed an “I told you so” look to Tom, who was staring at Marco as if a miracle had just happened before his eyes.

 "I… what?” Tom was trying to put his thoughts in order without success. “I wanted you two to be happy because I can tell you like each other! And well, Star’s my girlfriend, I like her and I want her to be happy… but there’s more to it… I—Marco… since we met, you’ve always been patient, caring and have made me feel like I had a lot of good things worth learning to work on and have always been by my side, making me feel appreciated…” he put a hand on his neck trying to regain the confidence he needed, “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I like you too Marco,” Tom finished, flustered but sure of his feelings.

 Marco immediately looked up with the widest smile on his face as lighthearted chuckles escaped him, feeling blissful knowing that his feelings were reciprocated.

 "I’m extremely happy we now know each other’s feelings,” Star recognized. “Still, what are we going to do? Who of us should date? We’re not going to really be well no matter which two of us are dating…” sighed Star with apprehension, “maybe none of us should date…”

 Star looked at her friends’ dubious expressions.

 "Yeah I don’t think that’s going to work either…” Star acknowledged, brushing a hand through her locks in frustration.

 "Maybe we don’t need to choose which two of us should date,” Marco decided to put out there confidently, to Star and Tom’s confusion.

 "How?” wondered Star, not fully understanding his suggestion.

 "What are you trying to say?” inquired Tom, feeling like he was missing something.

 "Well, we could try dating… all of us,” proposed Marco, receiving even more baffled looks from Star and Tom. “It would be like being a couple, but a triad instead, a relationship formed by three people who all like each other.” He saw in their expressions how they were starting to understand the concept, which was probably new to them. “On Earth, many people are polyamorous, meaning that they can love and date more than one person at the same time. It is perfectly possible to love and have a relationship between more than two people, as long as everyone involved is on the same page.” Marco was glad that he had learned enough about polyamory during his own self-discovery to be able to explain it to his best friends.

 "That kind of makes sense,” recognized Tom, grasping the idea.

 "Yeah! It sounds like a great idea!” Star exclaimed with instant excitement.

 "I’m in! Dating both of you at the same time just sounds perfect,” seconded Tom.

 "Yes! I’m sure we’ll be able to figure out how to make it work as we go,” Marco said optimistically.

 "Then it’s settled, now let’s go watch TV together! I’m exhausted!” concluded Star, embracing them both in a hug.

 They spent the next few hours curled on the couch watching the new season of Fiesta de la Noche and giving each other happy, loving looks, brushing hands and leaning against each other, until they ended up falling asleep in a cuddle pile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the second chapter! Feel free to comment your thoughts on it and thanks for reading! I'm also extremely grateful to all of the people who have left comments and kudos, it makes me so happy to receive feedback!!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom, Star, and Marco realize something is wrong on Mewni.

 Star woke up around midnight with unease. The TV was turned off, and the only light in the living room was the one from the streetlights. She was about to go back to sleep when a feeling of urgency came over her: she had to explain to her mother how the portals weren’t working for Tom and her! She knew more about magic; she’d be able to explain how feelings affected portals, right?

 She got up and went upstairs so she wouldn’t wake up Tom and Marco, who were leaning on each other. She opened her compact mirror and called her mother. Strangely enough, the connection failed and only static came through the mirror. In a daze, she attempted to call Ponyhead. However, the call went static once again… That was definitely not normal!

 She rushed back down the stairs and shouted, “GUYS!”

 Tom fell off the couch in shock.

 Marco awoke with a start and immediately sat up to look at Star with surprise. He quickly looked down at Tom with a hint of worry, which instantly changed into amusement as he helped him get back on the couch.

 “What’s happening?” Marco wondered.

 “I don’t know, but something super, super weird," Star made it clear that she was serious, “It's not just the portals that are all out of whack!”

 “Wait!” Marco stopped her explanation. “What do you mean that the portals are all out of whack?”

 “Well, before you came, after I had broken up with Star, I was about to go back to Mewni. That turned out to be impossible because the fire column wasn’t working anyway. In the end, I asked Star to help me out, and when she transformed to create a portal, nothing happened. It didn’t work either, so we thought it was just because we were too emotional.” Tom hurried to explain, and followed up with intrigue. "What did you find out?”

 “Look!” she took out her compact mirror and pointed it towards her partners, “Call mom.”

 The mirror dialed the number, only to be answered by static. Star frowned with worry.

 “Um, maybe she's asleep?” Tom looked at the mirror with doubt.

 “Uh-uh.” Star corrected him. “Call Ponyhead.”

 The call was once again met with static, alarming both boys.

 “But Ponyhead? I mean, she stays up till at least 4 am!” pointed out Tom bewildered.

 Marco pursed his eyebrows and pulled out his dimensional scissors, looking at the blades thoughtfully.

 “It couldn’t hurt to try, right?”

 Marco tried to tear a portal right next to where he was sitting. Star and Tom watched him intently, really hoping for it to work. After a few unsuccessful tries, Marco gave up with a sigh.

 “It was worth a shot,” Tom consoled him, placing a hand on Marco’s shoulder as he put the scissors away with disappointment.

 “There's definitely something bigger going on here," Star declared. “I don’t know what it means or why it’s happening, but I think it’s really bad.” She started pacing around the room. Tom and Marco followed her movements with concern in their eyes.

 “We have to go back to Mewni,” she concluded with resolve.

 “Sure,” agreed Tom, “but how?”

 The three of them sunk in thought.

 “I don’t know, maybe…” Star trailed off, trying to come up with any ideas, “Ugh, there has to be a way!”

 “Don’t worry, we’ll find one,” Marco assured her, getting up to look into her eyes. “For now, I’m going to make us some tea, I’m sure it’s going to be a long night." He walked into the kitchen to get all of them something to stay awake.

 A heavy silence settled while the three of them tried to think of anything that could help them.  
“Ways to get to Mewni… Come on, any different ways to get to Mewni, something secret or almost unknown… Anything strange that could help us get to Mewni from Earth…” Star muttered under her breath as she tried to think.

 Suddenly, she gasped in realization.

 “Janna!”

 “What?!” Marco blurted in disbelief as he walked back into the living room with three cups.

 “Yes! Don’t you remember? Janna mysteriously showed up in Mewni without a portal!”

 “Well, I would have never thought Janna, of all people, would be our solution to getting back to Mewni,” admitted Tom, “but it sounds like a plan!”

 

* * *

 

 A few minutes later, Star was trying to get ahold of Janna with her mirror.

 “Come on, Janna, pick up your phone." Star started pacing around the room with her ear pressed against the compact mirror. “Pick up, pick up, pick up…”

 “Uh, she’ll never pick up,” concluded Marco with an air of resignation. “She’s probably someplace super weird.”

 “Like a monster truck graveyard,” finished Tom with a smile, putting a hand on Marco’s shoulder, who looked at him with interest.

 “Yeah!” Marco agreed with Tom.

 “Yeah,” Tom repeated, looking into Marco's eyes fondly.

 “Hello.” Sounded Janna’s voice through the compact mirror.

 “Oh, thank goodness Janna!” exclaimed Star with relief, “ok, ok, listen to me very carefully. We are stuck on Earth, the portals aren’t working. You’ve gotta tell me, how did you get to Mewni?” Star marked every one of the words.

 “Yeah! We gotta get back, like, now!” Tom dragged the mirror towards him with worry.

 Marco got between them. “Something really bad is happening!” Marco said, cupping his hands at the sides of his mouth.

 “Wait, can you say that louder?” Janna complained. “Yeah, the reception here is pretty bad: I’m at a monster truck graveyard.”

 Marco and Tom immediately gave each other satisfied, complicit looks and high fived.

 The three of them looked back at the mirror with attention, and Star said, “Listen to me carefully," Star took a deep breath, "How. Did. You. Get. To. Mewni?” Star made sure to pronounce every word clearly. Right next to the speaker.

 “I don’t know, bye!”

 “No, no, no! Janna, wait!” Star tried, but Janna had already hung up. "Agh, Janna!” Star facepalmed in frustration.

 “Now what?” asked Tom.

 Marco pulled them both close and answered dramatically, “We gotta wait for the beast in her cave.”

 Star considered it for a moment and disagreed. “We can’t wait that long for her to come back home, Mewni might be in danger. For now, we’re going out to look for her!”

 “We could try to find her I guess…” shrugged Tom.

 

* * *

 

 The three of them were walking under the lamplights. The streets were mostly empty, and there was a nice quiet enveloping the city. Some cars still made their way across the city, and even though most places were closed, a few teenagers were hanging out in small groups partying or just talking.

 Their hands brushed as they walked, and eventually, they ended up holding hands, feeling a calming joy from the action.

 While crossing a small park, the three of them spotted a familiar couple sitting on a bench and talking comfortably.

 “Look! It’s Jackie and Chloé! We should ask them if they’ve seen Janna.”

 “Star, they’re probably on a date. I don’t want to interrupt them.”

 “Marco, this is an emergency. They could help us find Janna!” Star walked up to them, dragging Tom and Marco behind her.

 “Hi, Jackie! Hey, Chloé!” she waved at them, stopping right next to the bench.

 Jackie immediately turned towards Star with a surprised look.

 “Hi, Star! Oh! And hello, Marco and Tom!”

 “Hello!” exclaimed Chloé happily, amused by the sudden appearance of the three, instantly noticing the agitation of the trio.

 “Have you seen Janna?” asked Star without a second thought.

 “No… we haven’t seen her?”

 “Oh well, that’s fine, we’ll keep looking, thanks, Jackie!”

 “Wait? What’s wrong? We can help you find Janna if you need it,” interceded Chloe before Star could leave.

 “It’s kind of a long story.”

 “Look, I don’t know much about your world, but Jackie has told me a little, and this seems important, are you sure that you don't want to tell us? You look… how you say... shaken up, and it’s really dark right now. I want to try to help you, whatever big thing this is,” she looked at Star with determination. Jackie nodded in agreement.

 “Ok, but can we walk around for a while?” conceded Star. “I just can’t sit still.”

 Both girls nodded in response and got up, picking up their skateboards, which were leaning against the bench.

 “Basically, none of the portals to Mewni are working, and all communications are down."

 "Then... does Janna know about this? Is that why you're looking for her?" wondered Jackie.

 "She probably doesn't know about this yet, but she probably has a way to get to Star's world without needing a portal," clarified Marco.

 "And you're sure she's not home?" asked Chloé.

 "We're positive," answered Tom. "She's at a monster truck graveyard, go figure."

 "It's late, so she's probably planning on looking for materials at the dump all night. Probably so she won't be spotted," sighed Jackie thoughtfully.

 "Anyway, you're probably not going to find her until she gets back home, and you shouldn't exhaust yourselves looking for her, especially if things in Mewni are as bad as you think," reasoned Jackie.

 "We should all go to her house once the Sun rises and wait for her there. Do you wanna hang out until then?" offered Jackie, "It'll help you take your mind off it."

 "That sounds like a good idea..." accepted Star, looking at Tom and Marco, who she was still holding hands with.

 Marco looked at her with indignation, "That's exactly the same as what I said at the beginning!"

 "Well, this just proves your plan was good," Tom assured him.

 "Yeah, you and Jackie are right, it's just hard to sit around waiting... Could we talk about something else? I don't want to think about it anymore, I'm too worried," admitted Star. Tom and Marco squeezed her hands almost at the same time, trying to comfort her.

 "Sure!" Jackie exclaimed.

 Chloe immediately added, "Since we're changing topics..."

 "How long has this been going on?" finished Jackie with glee, looking pointedly at their joined hands.

 Tom choked and blushed furiously, Marco gave the couple a panicked, shocked look, and Star took a moment to understand what she meant. When she got it, she looked away for a second with a bit of embarrassment, which immediately changed into pure joy.

 "Just for a few hours!"

 "Wow, you need to tell us all about it!" Jackie replied with interest.

 "Honestly, it was a bit of a mess at first.” Tom looked away, trying to dodge the question. Eventually, though, he gave in. “Look, it’s just that I thought I didn’t really fit into the equation.” Tom shrugged to appear nonchalant.

 “We ended up almost breaking up, partly because I had avoided talking to Tom about the whole situation,” Star began with regret in her voice, however, quickly recovering her usual joy “When we realized we both still had feelings for each other, but we also liked Marco, we decided the three of us needed to talk." Star fidgeted with excitement as she explained it.

 "Basically, once we started talking about it, things became way easier. We realized that neither of us wanted anyone to deny their feelings, nor to deny our own feelings for any of the others. Eventually, I suggested that maybe the best option was to try dating as a triad," Marco finished, smiling at Tom and Star.

 For a moment, the three exchanged loving, content looks with each other, but with a hint of nervousness.

 "Wow, guys! Sounds like you did well enough figuring it out," Jackie reassured them. "It's nice that you solved it by being open about your feelings with each other, that's important." She beamed at them.

 "Yeah, you have our full support!" Chloé added while taking Jackie's hand with confidence.

 "Ok, ok, I'm euphoric right now, thank you for being so accepting about it!" Star admitted in a high-pitched voice, "But it's my turn, tell me! How did you two meet?" Star glowed with enthusiasm.

 Jackie and Chloé looked a bit taken aback by the sudden question. Nevertheless, Chloé didn't waste a moment to narrate their encounter.

 "See, when Jackie first arrived in France, she was pretty popular: she was a cool, foreign girl, and everybody wanted to talk to her. Honestly, I wasn't any different, and I also thought she was very cute. I started asking about her experience and her thoughts and found out that she was funny and interesting. Eventually, all of the "new student" interest died down, but by then I already knew that we shared a lot of tastes, like our love of skateboards and Love Sentence, and I loved being friends with her.

 "I did want to ask her out, so when I noticed that she was struggling a lot with French classes, I offered to help her out and asked if maybe after that, she'd like to go to the movies or something."

 "I had liked Chloé for some time by then, so I immediately said that I'd love to go on a date with her. After that, we became girlfriends.” Jackie held Chloé’s hand as if recalling a happy memory. “A few months later, Chloé asked her parents to study in America with me as an exchange student herself. Fortunately, they loved the idea," Jackie finished and kissed Chloé's cheek affectionately.

 "Wow, Jackie! You truly had some discovery time abroad, didn't you?" joked Marco with a finger gun gesture.  
"Yes, that was definitely a huge discovery," agreed Jackie, mirroring his gesture.

 They continued talking for hours, walking around the city, until the Sun finally rose.

 "This has been awesome! But we have to go wait for Janna," concluded Star with rising impatience.

 "You're right, we should go, her parents might be up already," agreed Jackie.

 "Wait, what?" Star looked confused, "I meant the three of us. I swear we'll be fine, you don't need to help us. Looking for a way to get to Mewni and actually going there is probably going to be dangerous, there's no way you can come!" complained Star.

 "Star, we know whatever is going on in your world is probably dangerous, but you're still gonna need all the help you can get, and you three are our friends, we want to help you if we know you're going to go on a crazy, dangerous adventure," debated Jackie.

 "We just want to lend you a hand in all this mess, I'm sure we can help somehow," reasoned Chloe.

 "Fine! You can help us, just be careful, okay? Mewni is very different from Earth, and I have no idea what's going on."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This chapter didn't really get ahead in the plot, but I wanted to give Jackie and Chloé more importance, and I really want more content of the two of them.  
> That said, this chapter took longer to publish because of exams (and because the wifi at home stopped working for a few days), thank you for waiting!  
> I've also finally been able to start coming up with ideas of what I want to do with the plot. It still needs a lot of polishing, so I'm nowhere near finished with the planning anyway, but it's something.  
> I hope you enjoy the chapter!  
> Thanks for reading and comments are always appreciated! It makes me very happy to see that people like this!!!


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